


Room for rent

by RainyMonday



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Bruce is looking for a roommate, Humor, It's harder than he thinks, M/M, Poor Bruce Wayne, Roommates, Selina finds it funny, Summer of Gotham, Summer of Gotham Week 1, all the villains apply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 17:14:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14835815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainyMonday/pseuds/RainyMonday
Summary: Bruce is looking for a roommate. All the villians apply. Bruce questions his life choices.Written for the Summer of Gotham Prompt "Roommates"





	Room for rent

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the first week of "Sommer of Gotham". There are two prompts for each summer week. You can submit anything you want, fanart, fanfiction, GIFs, … If you wanted to do something for Gotham anyways, there are a lot of amazing prompts for the next weeks :)
> 
> I just had to make Bruce go through all this chaos because it was so fun to write.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Studying was not that bad. Actually, Bruce quite liked it. He missed Gotham and of course Alfred but he also didn’t mind spending some time on his own, becoming self-dependent. At least his cooking skills had flourished so far. After a few weeks however, the effect of having his own apartment and every freedom he wanted, had worn off. He wasn’t used to living alone and now that Alfred and Selina weren’t around anymore, it started to become boring soon. It felt like a disappointment when he soon started to regret his choice to move out in order to go to college. Sure, he would be back in two years but he wasn’t sure how to survive them. He had started talking to random objects by now because it became horribly quiet at some point. He was so used to Selina sneaking in for dinner or breakfast and to Alfred scolding him for whatever thing he had done wrong this time.

When he told his butler about his problems, he was -as always- fast to come up with a solution. In the aftermath, Bruce was surprised he hadn’t considered it himself.  
“Why don’t you find a roommate?”, Alfred had said and it hit Bruce like a train. He had no financial problems and if necessary, somebody could even live with him for free as long as they got along and Bruce stopped the unfortunate habit of talking to his TV.

Only a day later, he took out an ad in the local newspapers and also put something on a room to let section. As he was offering a minimal rent, people would most likely beat a path to his door. So all he had to do was to pick somebody he got along with and who wasn’t either annoying or creepy.  
He received applications quickly, the first one arriving only a few hours after he’d set everything up. After one week, it appeared like half the city had taken an interest in being his roommate. He sorted some applications out from the beginning, especially the creepy ones he got.  
A guy named Victor Zsasz for example had honestly asked if he was allowed to bring his collections of weapons with him and if he could bring work home sometimes. Bruce was not exactly sure what kind of work was meant in this context but as the next question was whether he minded some loud noises then and there, he decided that he didn’t want to know and sorted the application out quickly.  
In the end, there remained about 15 applicants who all seemed promising or at least normal. He invited all of them for the next weekend. He was strangely excited for it because honestly, he loved the idea of getting a roommate.  
He had another phone call with Alfred who dryly remarked that he would probably meet more weirdos than he expected to and wished him luck for finding somebody normal.  
He also called Selina and she was way too excited over that Zsasz guy. In fact, she found him hilarious. In the end, he promised to tell her everything.

On Saturday, Bruce woke early and excited. He had no idea what awaited him but that somehow made it thrilling. He went through the flat and cleaned a bit so it wouldn’t look like a mess. Then he dressed himself, plain black shirt and trousers, nothing different than he normally would.  
His first appointment was with an Edward Nygma. His application had seemed promising. Apparently, Nygma was a student like him, doing a lot of science. Bruce liked that because it meant they had something to talk about at least.

Nygma arrived not only on time but even a little bit too early. He was tall and wore glasses while dressed completely in dark green. Bruce liked that about him. He preferred plain clothing as well.  
Soon, it turned out that the clothing probably was the only thing he liked about this guy. Everything had gone smoothly at first, he’d shown Nygma around and the other had nodded and inspected everything closely. When they sat down to talk a little bit however, Nygma revealed himself to be annoying- and maybe a little bit crazy.  
It was funny when he made a riddle for the first time and Bruce guessed the right answer at second attempt. It got a little bit weird with the next riddle and strongly annoying when the answer to his question whether or not he had some allergies, was another riddle.  
“What must be broken before it can be used” was definitely not helpful. Even thought Bruce figured they were talking about eggs, he knew he would probably turn crazy if he would have to listen to riddles all day.  
When, in the end, he heard multiple voices coming out of the restroom for which Nygma had left a few minutes ago, he put on a strained smile and politely complimented Nygma out of the door, promising him to call soon.

After this first encounter, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the next one. On the other hand, things could only go better from here.  
Matter of factly, things got worse.  
Jonathan Crane was completely terrifying. Bruce wondered what exactly had went wrong with him.  
When he opened the door, Crane was staring at him like a madman. Bruce gulped and asked him in, already knowing that this was not going to work. Crane kept staring at him and he had weird, black eyes that made Bruce shiver.  
He showed Crane around rather quickly, not wanting him to invade his privacy more than necessary. When he sat down on the couch, Crane remained standing. He was still staring. Definitively creepy.  
“I need a place for the mice”, he then stated and it was the first time he spoke at all. Even his voice sounded wrong.  
“Mice?”, Bruce repeated. There was no way he would share his flat with mice.  
“I need them for my experiments”, Crane continued and glared at Bruce, “they are very important to me.”  
“What kind of experiments?”, he dared to ask, ready to call the police because this guy looked like he made chemicals toxins for fun.  
“None of your business”, Crane snapped and even appeared offended, “you only need to know they’re not as dangerous as the lawyer of my previous tenant claims”  
“Sure”, Bruce managed to say. “You know what, I’m going to call soon” He tried to smile and failed miserably but Crane didn’t even realize as he left. Bruce was happy to have him gone.

Right after Crane another young man came up the stairs. The first thing Bruce thought was why exactly he was wearing a top hat. It looked a little bit odd but mostly eccentric. He decided that judging people after their style of clothing was out of question after the first two disasters with completely normal dressed people.  
"Was that Jonathan Crane?", the man asked. His voice was velvet and somehow, Bruce really enjoyed listening to it. It was...catching.  
"You know him?", he asked in disbelief.  
"Crane? Yes, we are acquaintances", the man answered with his soft voice. Bruce asked him in without thinking about it.  
"I'm Jervis Tetch", the man introduced himself and seriously lifted his top hat and bowed. Bruce was speechless for only a second. At least this guy had manners.  
He showed him around and Tetch smiled and even commented on some things.  
"That's charming", he said about the little kitchen, "my sister and I had quite a similar one"  
"You have a sister?", Bruce wanted to know and was glad that for the first time, he had a normal conversation with one of his applicants.  
"Yes. Alice. Precious Alice. She's the most wonderful person in the world"  
"That sounds... nice. I'd love to meet her ", in fact, it sounded a little bit obsessive but Bruce hadn't had siblings himself, so maybe that was normal?  
“She's dead", Tetch replied with sadness in his voice, "such a beautiful creature dead"  
"I'm sorry", Bruce honestly was even thought this got weirder every second.  
When they ended the tour and sat down, Tetch pulled a tiny silver watch from one of his pockets. Bruce wondered why as there were plenty clocks in the room.  
"This is all that is left from my sister", Tetch mumbled and slowly started to swing it back and forth. Bruce watched the movements with furrowed eyebrows. He felt himself getting weaker and more tired and... The velvet voice spoke to him. He wanted to do what it said. He...  
The sound of an ambulance beneath the window broke through the dizziness in his head and he startled awake. Tetch was fast to put the watch away but not fast enough.  
“Did you just try to hypnotize me?”, Bruce asked, his voice torn between disbelief and anger.  
Jarvis Tetch only shrugged his shoulders: “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a room nowadays?”  
“That is no reason to hypnotize me!”, Bruce insisted.  
"Depends on how desperate you are   
It was obvious that they wouldn't become roommates after this.

By afternoon it felt like he’d met all the city’s weirdos and maybe even some more. He’d almost given up when he heard another knock on the door. He sighed, deeply, and went to open it, about to tell whoever was standing there that no, he wasn’t looking for a roommate anymore.  
The words died on his lips when he stared at a handsome young man with fierce ginger hair and glasses that made him look awkwardly cute. Bruce swallowed and then smiled. The other smiled too and it was more than charming.  
“Jeremiah Valeska”, he said and Bruce took his hand. “I’ve applied for the room, I’m…”, his voice was nice, smooth and soft. Bruce liked the way he spoke.  
“Yes, yes. That’s me”, god, he sounded like an idiot in love already. He cleared his throat: “Don’t you want to come in?”  
Jeremiah nodded and when he came inside, he looked just perfect in Bruce's flat.  
"Is everything alright?", the red-head asked, "you look quite stressed"  
“Honestly?”, Bruce mumbled, “you are the first and only normal person so far”  
"That bad?", Jeremiah asked and followed Bruce through the flat.  
"Worse. I'm pretty sure at least one serial killer applied to this. I'm worried that some of them know where I live"  
Jeremiah sighed as if understanding him: "I've lived with my brother for a long time. He's everything but sane. I really needed to get away from that"  
"Well, then it should be good to hear for you that I'm completely normal", Bruce tried to make a joke but most likely sounded like an idiot. Selina would probably die from laughter if she could see him now.  
"That sounds great indeed", Jeremiah laughed and it was beautiful.  
Bruce tried not to stare and failed miserably. To conceal it, he quickly asked another question: "You are a student?"  
"Yes. Engineering. That may be my only annoying trait. I tend to design a lot and then my room gets really, really chaotic" Bruce didn't find that was something negative. Not at all. It was perfect.  
“I’d love to see those designs”, he replied and then had no idea what to say next. This was getting awkward. At least he wasn’t the only one to blush. He could feel Jeremiah looking at him too.  
"Uhm, is not being a serial killer enough to get the room?", Jeremiah finally asked. He had blushed some more.  
"I very much think so", Bruce answered smiling, "when do you want to move in?"

This was going to be great. He’d always liked gingers too.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking about writing another part of this because I just really, really want Bruce and Jeremiah to kiss :)


End file.
